The Chinese ministry of public security, which is responsible for internalintelligence and security and oversees the administration of Tibet, Xinjiang andInner Mongolia, is reported to have issued instructions to the Chinese embassiesin countries having a large number of Tibetan refugees to mobilise the local Hanresidents to counter the anti-Beijing propaganda and activities of the Tibetanrefugees and to prevent any attempt by the refugees to disrupt the passage ofthe Olympic torch through different countries. They have been advised to counterthem through the Internet as well as on the ground. These instructions havereportedly come on the eve of the planned observance of March 31, 2008, as a"Day of Action" by the Tibetan diaspora. On this day, the TibetanYouth Congress (TYC) proposes to hand over to the Chinese embassies in importantcountries a petition calling for Tibetan independence, which has been signed byover one million people--Tibetans as well as foreigners--all over the world. Thepetition was circulated and the signatures obtained through the Internet.
The Chinese have been concerned over the effective manner in which the TYC andTibetan exile groups supporting it have been using the Internet to keep in touchwith each other, to propagate the cause of Tibetan freedom, to carry onpropaganda against Beijing and to call for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics.Despite the Chinese clamp-down on the use of the Internet and mobile telephonesin Tibet, Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu, the TYC office-bearers abroad and theleaders of the uprising movement, formed by the TYC inside the Tibetan-inhabitedareas of China, continue to exchange communications with each other and keep theworld informed of what has been going on inside Tibet. Thanks to the Internetand the mobile telephones and the ingenuity of the Tibetan youth, the Chinesehave failed to impose a total iron curtain around the Tibetan-inhabited areas,though a partial iron curtain, which is 75 per cent effective, functions. Evenyoung Tibetan monks in Tibet and other provinces have become adept in the use ofthe Internet.
The Han diaspora abroad has been advised to copy-cat the Tibetan use of theInternet in order to widely disseminate the Chinese version of the developmentsin Tibet since March 10, 2008. There has been a mushrooming of Han-run blogs andchat rooms in the last one week to counter the Western version of thedevelopments. A visit to some of these sites indicates that while they have beenhitting hard at the Dalai Lama and his so-called clique and at Western media andgovernments, they are avoiding any criticism of India. They are also avoidingblaming India for the activities of the Dalai Lama and the TYC.